ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The family of a 17-year-old African-American boy shot to death last month in his gated Florida community by a white Neighborhood Watch captain wants to see the captain arrested, the family's lawyer said on Wednesday.

Trayvon Martin was shot dead after he took a break from watching NBA All-Star game television coverage to walk 10 minutes to a convenience store to buy snacks including Skittles candy requested by his 13-year-old brother, Chad, the family's lawyer Ben Crump said.

"He was a good kid," Crump said in an interview, adding that the family would issue a call for the Watch captain's arrest at a news conference on Thursday. "On his way home, a Neighborhood Watch loose cannon shot and killed him."

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Trayvon, who lived in Miami with his mother, had been visiting his father and stepmother in a gated townhome community called The Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford, 20 miles north of Orlando.

As Trayvon returned to the townhome, Sanford police received a 911 call reporting a suspicious person.

Although names are blacked out on the police report, Crump and media reports at the time of the shooting identified the caller as George Zimmerman who is listed in the community's newsletter as the Neighborhood Watch captain.

Without waiting for police to arrive, Crump said, Zimmerman confronted Trayvon, who was on the sidewalk near his home. By the time police got there, Trayvon was dead of a single gunshot to the chest.

"What do the police find in his pocket? Skittles," Crump said. "A can of Arizona ice tea in his jacket pocket and Skittles in his front pocket for his brother Chad."

Zimmerman could not be reached for comment on Wednesday evening at a phone number listed for him on the community's newsletter.

Crump said the family was concerned that police might decide to consider the shooting as self defense, and that police have ignored the family's request for a copy of the original 911 call, which they think will shed light on the incidents.

"If the 911 protocol across the country held to form here, they told him not to get involved. He disobeyed that order," said Ryan Julison, a spokesman for the family.

"He (Zimmerman) didn't have to get out of his car," said Crump, who has prepared a public records lawsuit to file on Thursday if the family doesn't get the 911 tape. "If he never gets out of his car, there is no reason for self-defense. Trayvon only has skittles. He has the gun."

Since Trayvon, a high school junior who wanted to be a pilot, was black and Zimmerman is white, Crump said race is "the 600 pound elephant in the room."

"Why is this kid suspicious in the first place? I think a stereotype must have been placed on the kid," Crump said.

The Sanford police detective who questioned George Zimmerman the night he shot Trayvon Martin became the latest prosecution witness to appear to do more harm than good to the state's case, recalling a somber conversation that touched on Zimmerman's faith and the fear he said he felt when Martin told him "You're going to die tonight."

Detective Doris Singleton testified Monday that Zimmerman seemed somber and conflicted as she interviewed him after the February 2012 shooting. She said Zimmerman asked her about the crucifix around her neck and buried his head in his hands upon learning Martin had died.

"I had a silver cross on and he asked me if I was Catholic," Singleton said during testimony. "I said, 'No. I'm Christian. Why are you asking?'"

She said Zimmerman replied, saying that he had noticed the cross and told Singleton that it was "always wrong to kill" someone.

"I said to him, 'If what you're telling me is true then I don't think that's what God meant. [That] you couldn't save your own life,'" she told the court.

Singleton testified that a shocked Zimmerman replied, "He's dead?" to which she said, "I thought you knew that."

Assistant Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda appeared frustrated at times by the prosecution witness' testimony, which, like previous witnesses put on by the state, at times seemed to put Zimmerman in a sympathetic light. Several times, De La Rionda turned his back on the witness stand and looked to his co-counsel, almost in frustration.

If a cop or taxi driver was assigned 3 streets, I'm 100% sure they would remember them. It's not a lot to ask that the guy who starts the neighborhood watch actually know the name of the streets he's watching.

If a cop or taxi driver was assigned 3 streets, I'm 100% sure they would remember them. It's not a lot to ask that the guy who starts the neighborhood watch actually know the name of the streets he's watching.

Relevant to the charges or not...the guy declares himself a watch captain in a neighborhood where he doesn't know all the streets, ignores the instructions from real cops and is still allowed to carry a pistol around.

After he shoots the guy, neighbors keep asking to/saying they are calling 911 and he tells them not to and to come help hold the guy down.

Relevant to the charges or not...the guy declares himself a watch captain in a neighborhood where he doesn't know all the streets, ignores the instructions from real cops and is still allowed to carry a pistol around.

After he shoots the guy, neighbors keep asking to/saying they are calling 911 and he tells them not to and to come help hold the guy down.

Relevant to the charges or not...the guy declares himself a watch captain in a neighborhoodNo he didn't, this was a police sanctioned NHW where he doesn't know all the streets, ignores the instructions from real copsNo. It was 911 operator and they instructed him that way for his own safety and is still allowed to carry a pistol around.

After he shoots the guy, neighbors keep asking to/saying they are calling 911 and he tells them not to and to come help hold the guy down. why would he do that after he shot Martin. In fact when the police showed up he was very cooperative with LE

Don't get me started on NBC. They're the most morally bankrupt network in my eyes. I mean to publish the VT shooters manifesto. To literally doctor pictures of this case. I've got no respect for anyone there.

The VT thing is a family thing because my cousin was shot and killed, but man **** those people